President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said education would be a top priority of his administration for the remainder of his term.
In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President outlined a series of reforms to support teachers, modernize learning systems, and address the country’s education crisis.
“If we are investing heavily in infrastructure, we will invest even more in our people. This will be our core policy until the end of the administration. We are diligently fixing and improving our education system,” Mr. Marcos said.
He pledged long-overdue compensation for public school teachers working overtime or handling teaching overload, which will begin this school year.
Meanwhile, paperwork will soon be digitized to allow teachers to accomplish tasks online using newly distributed laptops.
Marcos said public school teachers across the country have begun receiving laptops, with procurement done transparently: “The laptops are now arriving. We made sure there were no anomalies in the purchase of these laptops.”
He added that these digital tools would be supported by smart TVs, free Wi-Fi in remote schools, and SIM cards loaded with data under the “Bayanihan SIM” program.
The President also cited programs like the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) initiative, early childhood care development, and expanded tutoring services as key efforts.
As part of solving workforce shortages, 60,000 new teaching positions were added to public schools.
Marcos also committed to constructing 40,000 new classrooms before the end of his term to address overcrowding.
